


Careful fear and dead devotion

by sandyk



Category: Superstore (TV)
Genre: AU from before the pilot, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 05:53:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15042206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandyk/pseuds/sandyk
Summary: Jonah starts at Cloud 9 and meets the floor supervisor. She used to be in a band.





	Careful fear and dead devotion

**Author's Note:**

> Not mine no profit garnered. Title from the national's don't swallow the cap. Thanks a!

AND I WANT TO TELL HIM I'M NOT JUST SOME SOULLESS JERK  
HEY, I GOT A BAND I UNDERSTAND WHAT LIFE IS FOR  
-Amy Rigby

 

It was Jonah's first day at Cloud 9 and he felt strongly that this was going to stick. It had been a simple whim but maybe his life needed more whimsy. The floor supervisor stood in front of him and grabbed the stars he was stocking. She talked a little, a little sadly. She said, "It's a good job. I've got kids, they get to eat every day and have books and sometimes even video games. Once upon a time I had time to even be in a band. But these days, not so much. It's been a long few years of the same day over and over."

He was staying at Cloud 9, Jonah decided. He was going to see the floor supervisor in her band. He would make her today different.

By the end of the night she even told him her name.

"Amy," he said, as he came in the next day. "Amy, is it okay to ask your last name?"

"Why do you need to know?" She glared at him. 

"I don't, at all, I just wanted to know. What was the name of your band?"

Amy rolled her eyes. "It was years ago, we're not getting back together."

"You had a smile on your face when you mentioned it, that why I wondered," Jonah said. He dropped the subject and went back to the work he had absolutely no training for. Not that you needed much.

The next time he saw her that day, he said, "You said you had kids."

"You're writing a book report on me?"

"I just moved here, I'm making friends. It's nice to know things about your friends," Jonah said. 

Amy said, "Actually we're coworkers, in fact, I am your boss and that's all, so all either of us need to know is if you are actually going to zone soft lines or not. My money's on not."

"Maybe if you explained what that is," Jonah said. He didn't do so bad once she showed him. 

The third day at work, he waited until they were at break and sat next to Amy. "Tell me about your band," he said.

"Her band was fun," Garrett said. "I only saw 'em once, but they they were fun. Amy, her sister, two, what were they your cousins?"

"You only think they were my cousins because they were also Latinas," Amy said. She was smiling again, though. "Only one of them is my cousin. Now they both are because they got married to each other."

Jonah said, "What kind of music was it?"

"Punk, sort of, emo, I don't know," Amy said. "We played in bars. That's what kind of music it was."

Dina sat down. She said, "Were you talking about your band? The one that caused your divorce?"

"Being in a band did not cause my divorce," Amy said. "Getting married at nineteen because I was pregnant and us growing apart as people do when they only get married because there's a baby on board, that's the reason we got divorced."

"Your husband was upset you were in a band?" Jonah sipped his LaCroix.

"Not at first," Amy said. "But suddenly he had stuff to do and things he wanted to do and it didn't matter how much I enjoyed my thing, I was supposed to give it up and work more hours so Adam could have his dreams. But I really liked being in a band. So that was just one part of my many conflicts. And it's fine, it's fine now, he loves Emma, we share custody very amicably."

Dina said, "But you're not even in the band anymore. You quit when you got knocked up by that guy, what his face."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it was weird how I had less free time when I had a newborn and a seven year old."

"You were sharing custody of the seven year old," Dina said. "You could have made the time."

"No, I couldn't, Dina," Amy said, annoyed.

"Yeah, Amy, what about after Rafa was a toddler?" Garrett said, deadpan. 

"Even if Alex and Adam do share expenses when it comes to the kids, I still have to pay half for two kids now," Amy said. 

"You should get the band back together," Jonah said. "It makes you happy."

Everyone else at the table rolled their eyes. 

He found her later that day. "So your kids are Emma and Rafa, and you're divorced."

"We aren't friends because you wormed that knowledge out of Dina and Garrett," Amy said. "Emma is twelve, she will be thirteen in a month, I had her when I was nineteen. After my divorce, like a year later, I started dating this guy Alex. We broke up very amicably and then he came by one night to say hi, and we stupidly had unprotected sex. So then I had Rafael, Rafa, and he's six years old. There you go. I'm a slutty Latina with two bady daddies in a dead end job, can we be best buddies now?"

"I still really want to see your band," Jonah said. 

But then he thought about it, and he went to find her on her way out. He said, "I don't think you're slutty. I meant to contradict that."

"Okay," Amy said. She gave him a tired smile. "You are right, I loved being in a band. We were pretty fun."

"Could you do it now? I just, you kinda light up when you talk about it. As your friend, I like when you're happy."

"You've known me three days," Amy said.

"I make friends quickly," Jonah said. 

"You want to have sex with me," Amy said.

He blushed and stammered. "I think you're hot," Jonah said. "Sure. But we've known each other three days."

"At least you're honest," Amy said. She went to her car.

Jonah had the day off on his fourth day in St. Louis. He went and found an apartment, well, he put down a deposit on the place he'd found after looking three days. 

As he was leaving on his seventh day in St. Louis, Amy leaned in and said, "You know, your stupid band thing actually got to me, and when I mentioned it to my sister she was excited, too, so I thought, you know, maybe I will. I noticed you have tomorrow night off, here's where we're playing." She shoved a handwritten address in his hand. 

"Can't wait to see you, friend!" 

He tried to dress cool for the bar which was really just a dive bar with a stage. But he wore jeans and t-shirt and his usual button down, but unbuttoned and hanging open. He'd spent a long time in front of the mirror before deciding on floppy hair. It was a slightly different look than his usual look. Plus whatever manly stubble he had from not shaving that morning. And just in case, maybe, whatever, who knew what would happen, he made sure he had condom on him. He wouldn't need it. But Jonah was a super hopeful guy. 

A pretty, short Latina came up to him and said, "Are you Jonah?"

"Yeah, that's me, hi," he said.

"I'm Isa, Amy's sister. She said she mentioned it to you. Like, she'll never tell you, but that means she likes you. She's all screwed up and she doesn't like people to know she likes them," Isa said. 

"I'm excited to see the show," Jonah said. 

"I bet," Isa said.

The band was awesome. Amy played bass and her sister played guitar and sang lead and the other two women banged on drums and also played guitar, it was very raucous and punk and also melodic. Amy and her sister harmonized sometimes, that was cool. 

Amy was wearing a tank top and a floaty wide wrap skirt. She actually had three tattoos, at least, something on both of her biceps and sometimes when the skirt swirled up, he was sure there was something on the outside of one of her thighs. She was passionate and obviously into it, it was such a contrast to Amy at work. Which was understandable. 

She found him after they finished their set, she was still sweaty and glowing and smiling. She said, "I asked Cheyenne and Garrett and Dina, too, they just couldn't come."

"Sure, sure," Jonah said. He'd assumed she had, he knew he wasn't special to her. "You were great. When's the next show? You can't give it up now."

"Do you know how much work it is to just make time for practice? I already have to coordinate my schedule with Adam and Alex and Cloud 9 and that's just an ordinary week," she said. She ran her hands through her hair and tied it up in a bun at the base of her neck. 

"But you made it work this week," Jonah said. "And look at you now. This is no ordinary day, right?"

"Sure," Amy said. She looked him up and down and then someone walked behind her, so she was up close to him. He could feel her heat. She didn't even smell sweaty, she just smelled great. She said, "You really liked the show, huh?" She grabbed him around the waist and he was pretty sure she was talking about his erection. 

"I liked the show, yes," Jonah said. He wondered what she would do if he kissed her. 

She let go of his waist and grabbed his hand. "There's this super tiny back room they gave us to set up in, like backstage sort of, we should go there."

"To hang, we'd be hanging out?"

"If you mean, have sex, oh yeah," she said. 

It was a really tiny room and Jonah was sort of leaning or standing against this chair while Amy shoved his pants and underwear down to his knees. She said, "Nice," and lifted her skirt. She was wearing basic beige boyshorts, and he happily tugged them down until they were around her ankles. He started touching her between her legs, spreading her open, his thumb making sort of circles around her clit. She was already wet but she moaned into his chest. "Keep that up," she said. 

He said, "I have a condom."

"Awesome, I have an IUD," Amy said. "Got any STDs?"

"Nope, nope, funny story --" he had to pause, her hand was on his dick doing everything right -- "I was in the hospital a few weeks ago and they tested me for everything. You?"

"Nope, no STDs, no recent trips to the hospital. Oh, God," she said. He'd started to push one finger inside her and she really seemed to like it. They kept going like that, this porn soundtrack of his wet fingers going in and out of her and both of them panting and a few moans. 

She said, "Fuck me now." She pushed his hand away and basically got on top of him, guiding his dick inside her. It was a very awkward position since Amy was kind of bracing herself on the chair and Jonah didn't have the greatest angle to get really deep but Amy was happy to ride his dick, and dig her fingers into his ass, holding on to him. 

He said, "Wait." He eased her up and then spun her around so she was facing the opposite wall. He grabbed her hips and pulled her ass towards him so it was kind of doggy style, but he could get right deep inside of her, find the spots that made her really moan.

"Great idea," Amy said. He reached around to touch her clit, he'd sort of figured out what got her wet. She came first and he fucked her through it until he was clawing at her hips as he came. 

They both sort of sagged into each other and he said, "Sorry, I feel like I neglected your breasts."

"Yeah, okay," Amy said. She turned around and handed him things to clean up with. 

Her sister banged on the door. "Come on, Amelia, I have someone I want to hook up with, too."

"We're all done," Amy said. 

"Amelia," Jonah said. He knew he was blushing as Amy led him out. 

She said, "Find me after I go to the bathroom, I think I need a ride home."

He did find her and she put her bass case and two amps in his trunk. He was so glad he'd moved in to his apartment so his car didn't have half his earthly possessions in there. She got in next to him and typed her address into his phone and then set it up so his phone was reading the directions. 

He said, "Did you come here with your sister or the other people in the band?"

"The other two came together and then after, they went home together, I assume they're going to have sex like the rest of us. My sister was actually my ride but you know, I invited you, so I knew I'd have a ride home."

"Oh," Jonah said. 

"Not like that," Amy said. "I didn't really plan on the sex part until five seconds after I saw you after the show. I mean, I'm the one with two baby daddies, right?"

"Are you embarrassed by that? I don't think you should be. I mostly think how hard it must be to raise two kids and how awesome it is that both their dads want to be part of their lives and you guys all make that work," Jonah said. "I'm pretty glad you're single right now, too."

"You're an idiot," she said. She was still smiling. 

He had to work the next day and she didn't, so it was two days later that they even talked. Right before the stupid early meeting, Cheyenne said, "How could you get your band back together and not invite me?"

Amy said, "I didn't invite anyone." 

Jonah was pretty sure he would be a bad liar, so he said nothing. Garrett said, "Were you amazing?"

"People thought so," Amy said. "Maybe next time, guys."

"Next time for sure," Jonah said. 

Jonah called his mom and his dad to make convince them everything was okay, he was absolutely doing great. He completely understood why they had each cut him off from the trust but he would like to keep getting his allowance. He certainly wasn't making much. His mother caved, his father said he'd need to see some stable behavior from Jonah for at least three more months. 

At work the next day, he was doing something boring when Amy came up to him. He was instantly much less bored. She said, "Why were you in the hospital?"

"Dehydration," Jonah said. "That's what we told everyone."

"We?"

"I was at business school, up until a few weeks ago. My first year, I did great. But my second year went wrong sometime in January. It was all downhill from there. I mean, it's not important. I was studying too much, trying to catch up. Anyway, I don't have any STDs," Jonah said. 

"You skipped over a lot there," Amy said. "The band's playing next week. I actually am going to invite some people from work, so if you come, try not to be so into it."

"Don't wear skin tight pants?"

"Don't ever do that at all," Amy said. "You don't have a great butt."

"Not like you," Jonah said.

"We're going to have to watch a video if you say more stuff like that," Amy said. "So shut up."

A few days later the reporter from Cloud 9 came. Things weren't going too great and then Glenn and Amy were calling him a panda so Jonah went to the warehouse. Then the pretty reporter came in. She said, "You're cute," and kissed him. He let her for a moment but then he backed away.

"Sorry. Sorry. I'm not dating someone but something might be happening. We're not exclusive or really dating, but I hope we will be. So, I probably shouldn't --"

"Wow, okay," the reporter said. She held up her hand and left. 

Of course, Dina was monitoring all the cameras, so she called Glenn, Jonah, and Amy in to complain about that psychopath reporter's behavior. Amy said, "She really did love your big ideas."

"I said no," Jonah said. "She made a move and I politely declined."

"Why? She's hot," Amy said. 

"I'm saving myself," Jonah said. 

Glenn said, "For the Lord? Do Jewish people do that?"

"No, we don't," Jonah said. "I was making a joke."

Standing behind Dina, Amy rolled her eyes at him.

When Amy's band played again, it was a different bar. Jonah saw Garrett and, oddly, Dina and Mateo. They all sort of sat together. The band was even better than last time, more practiced, but Jonah made sure not to say that out loud. After the performance, Amy came around and laughed and had a beer with all of them. Then she stayed leaning against the bar super close to Jonah as Amy said goodbye to Dina and Garrett and Mateo. She said, "Do you think Mateo genuinely liked the show? He's so weird."

"He is, he is. I think he would definitely lie. But he might be telling the truth," Jonah said. 

"You just came because you were hoping we would fuck again," Amy said.

"Also, unlike Mateo, I'm absolutely telling the truth when I say I love your band," Jonah said.

Amy smiled and put her hand on Jonah's thigh. "We are definitely going to fuck."

They did, this time in the bathroom, which was just one room. They were very far from the first people to use that bathroom that way, which is why they mostly stayed standing and kept their shoes on. 

After she was smiling, her arm looped around his neck, she said, "Ride home?"

"Of course," he said. 

This time she said, "You can come in. But you have to leave with me in the morning, I start at six am."

"That sounds okay," Jonah said. "I take it your kids aren't here."

"Duh," Amy said. 

She took a shower while he laid on the bed. She had a nice king bed and a nice place. It looked lived in and comfortable. He took off his shoes and socks and wiggled his toes. He really liked Amy. This whole whimsical trip to St. Louis, it was beginning to feel like the exact right thing. 

Then Amy came out and naked, running her towel through her hair. "I like you," she said. "It's so irritating."

"You find me irritating," Jonah said. "It may not surprise you, but I've heard that before."

"I find liking you irritating," Amy said. "At least the sex is good." She sat down on his thighs and reached for his dick. He closed his eyes at the feel of her hands on his dick and balls. She guided him inside her, and he opened his eyes so he could see her. She took his hands, holding them to her waist while he rocked his hips up and up. 

She was for once loud when she came which was another total turn on. Then the two of them cleaned up and he fell asleep with his hand on her. She was so beautiful. 

Jonah vaguely managed to be casual and undercover about him and Amy. That was what she seemed to want. He was becoming friends with Garrett, he was almost sure. He was becoming friends with a lot of people. 

Amy's band started playing once a week at some bar, he made it to nine shows in a row before his schedule made him stay at work. He felt like, he thought, waiting at the register for any customers to come, he and Amy talked all the time, just joking around. But he knew she kept incredible careful track of how her kids did in school and she made sure that their fathers were up to date. She spoke a lot more fondly of Alex than she did of Adam, but Adam wasn't the one who had wanted her to quit her band. 

Jonah's favorite part of the day was talking to her because he made her laugh. He was even getting better at the job, as much as the job was something he could get better at it. Not that everyone didn't still make fun of him for being incompetent but they'd moved on to new things to make fun of him for, like how he was pretentious and a privileged white pretty boy. Except Glenn wasn't making fun of him when he kept talking about pretty Jonah was. It was a little disturbing. 

He left work late-ish, meaning he wouldn't get any overtime even if he deserved it. He was not used to the abuse of labor laws and wage theft, not at all. He kept thinking there had to be something they could do. 

Amy waved from under the lights in the parking lot. "I took an Uber," she said loudly. 

"Good idea," Jonah said. 

She pressed herself up against him and said, "I am so used to doing sex with you after we play, I mean, having sex, fucking, I can't believe Dina scheduled you for tonight. I need to tell her you're my post show boytoy."

"That sure sounds sexy," Jonah said. "Do you need a ride to your home?"

"No, we should go to your place. We've been fucking for four months and I've never seen your place," Amy said. "It bothers me, like maybe you're a serial killer. Do you have weird clown pictures all over your place? Are there any clown paintings that aren't weird?"

"We can totally go to my apartment. No clown pictures," Jonah said. "Not even ironic ones."

She fell asleep in the car, so he nudged her when he got to his apartment. "Do you want to go home?"

"No, I brought clothes for tomorrow. I'm sleeping over," Amy said. "And not in your car."

Amy gawked at everything in Jonah's apartment. He didn't have much up on the walls, or very much furniture. She even opened his refrigerator and his freezer and his cabinets. Then she said, "Okay, bedroom now."

She used the bathroom first and got in bed naked after leaving her clothes on the bathroom floor. She rubbed against him. She said, "I'm really tired, though. We can have sex tomorrow."

"Of course," Jonah said. 

"I don't understand why you're here. At Cloud 9. You said something about dehydration," Amy said. "I'll remember in the morning."

"You waited a long time to ask me," Jonah said. 

"I had to decide if I really cared," Amy said. 

"I took a lot of ritalin and stayed awake for three days straight. I was really anxious about doing well. As well as I had the my first year. But it didn't work that way," Jonah said. He was making it sound nice. He tended to soften the actual events in retelling them, which frankly everyone did. It still wasn't a great story. 

"Why were you so anxious?"

"I don't know," Jonah said. "I was born anxious. That's how my mom describes me as a baby. She says it a lot, it's really helpful."

"We moms think we're funny," Amy said. She hugged him. Her whole body was warm and sweaty and delightful. "Maybe I'll ask you to elaborate on that cause I think you're leaving some stuff out." She didn't though. 

A week later, he was trying to organize one of the lower shelves in the toy aisles. A small child leaned over watching him. The boy said, "You could do that better."

"Really? Thanks for the suggestion," Jonah said. "What should I be doing?"

The kid opened his mouth but then Amy came walking over quickly, looking over her shoulder. "Hey, let's not bother this guy, okay?" She grabbed the little boy's shoulders and pulled him towards her.

Jonah looked up and smiled. "Hey, are you Rafa?"

Rafa smiled and said, "Yes I am."

Amy frowned and said, "Jonah, this is Rafa, Rafa, this is one of the associates, Jonah."

He was probably just projecting, but he could see a lot of Amy in Rafa now, even though Rafa was actually a little darker than Amy. Amy said, "Technically we're not allowed to have our kids here. But my child care flaked and Alex's cousin can't get off work for another two hours so, you know, just don't say anything, okay?"

"No problem," Jonah said. "Hey, you think I'm doing this wrong, Rafa, why don't you help me?"

"You're getting paid to do it," Rafa said. 

"I am, but you just said I was doing it wrong so maybe just tell me how do it better?" Jonah was good with babies and little kids, it wasn't until they hit ten or twelve and then he was just a disaster. 

Rafa said, "Okay, okay." He got down on his hands and knees and started pointing out things to Jonah. It was actually a lot of fun. The two of them got it all done in about twenty minutes. They moved onto the next shelf and got that one done before Rafa got bored. 

Jonah said, "Do you want to look at the books? We have some good books."

"I have tons of books. My daddy buys me books and my mommy and then my sister reads them to me. I can read, too," Rafa said. 

"You can show me the books you have," Jonah said. 

Amy found them like an hour later and came by with a teenager. "Babysitter," Rafa said. "Her name is Jenny. She's my daddy's little cousin."

"You have so much family," Jonah said. Rafa ran towards his mom and the hand off was made. 

Amy came over to him and said, "Thanks. You didn't have to do that."

"What? He's great," Jonah said. "He seems to love books, that's always cool."

"So does Emma," Amy said, smiling a little. "We read a book together all the time. Not to be defensive. I am so defensive, sorry. I always feel like a bad mother. Me and my two kids by different fathers."

"That doesn't make you a bad mother at all," Jonah said. 

"No, I'm just a cliche. Never went to college because she got knocked up, had a kid with her next boyfriend that wasn't planned. Work at Cloud 9," Amy said. She pushed her hair behind her ear. 

"In a totally cool band," Jonah said. "Coordinates all these schedules so your kids spend time together and with you and their dads. You're a supervisor. You're one of the smartest people I know." 

"We're already sleeping together, God, you don't have to be nice to me," Amy said. She smiled up at him. 

The next day, Jonah was minding his own business stocking tuna when a guy walked up to him and read his nametag. The guy said, "You're Jonah."

"Yeah," Jonah said. "Hi."

"I'm Alex," Alex said. He seemed very confident and assertive. Jonah could see why Amy would find him attractive. Jonah actually found him a little attractive. "Rafa says you're dating Amy."

"Sort of," Jonah said. "I think we are, but Amy's been pretty hesitant to put a name on it, and I kind of defer to her on that topic."

Alex nodded. "So that sounds like you're dating Amy. Rafa said you were nice."

"Oh, good," Jonah said. "I get that you'd want to check up on me because I'm sort of dating Amy, but trust me, Amy doesn't like me enough to have me spend time with her kids."

"She likes you," Alex said. "She's very cautious about her kids. Which I like."

"Me, too," Jonah said. "It's very admirable." Jonah was starting to feel very intimidated. "You don't have to worry about me, seriously."

Alex looked him up and down and then said, "Okay." He clapped Jonah on the shoulder hard. "Catch you later."

Amy came to see him an hour later, she wasn't even working that day. "Did Alex really come here to interrogate you?"

"It wasn't an interrogation," Jonah said. "He didn't really ask me questions, he was just, um, trying to intimidate me? It really worked. He seemed to think I was your boyfriend."

"Of course you're my boyfriend," Amy said, rolling her eyes. "We've been sleeping together for, like, four months. I haven't been sleeping with anyone else, have you? Have you?"

"No, no, of course not. Why would I?" Jonah smiled. "So we're dating? You're always so dismissive. Like, of me. You barely admit you like me."

Amy shrugged and looked contrite. "I'm not good at relationships. Okay? You're my boyfriend. You should probably meet Emma and Adam. I should probably let you stay overnight when the kids are there. Maybe."

"Wow," Jonah said. "I didn't know we were at that level. But I also thought we weren't dating."

"Well, we are," Amy said. "I'll go tell Cheyenne, she'll tell everyone."

Two days later Cheyenne went into false labor in the store. Amy and Jonah snuck into Glenn's office to call about maternity leave. Everything went downhill from there. As they stood in the parking lot with everyone but Dina around them, Amy said, "What we do now? We go on strike. We stand up and stand together."

It went over well, even after Dina came out and told them they were all fired. 

As soon as Dina walked back in, Amy jumped up on the truck and said, "Come on, guys. We're not letting Dina dictate what happens here. There's more of us than there is of her. She's gonna call corporate and they are going to call someone to keep this quiet. So we're going to make noise."

Everyone started shouting and whooping. Jonah was pretty sure that wasn't what Amy meant.

"Not actually making noise. Come on, I mean, we're going to get in people faces. We're going to stand right here and tell everyone who walks by not to go in. We're going to tell them corporate just fired our manager because he gave a teenage mother a few weeks of paid maternity leave. Like a big human wall of annoyance. I know you're capable of that," Amy said. 

Marcus said, "Are you specifically looking at me?" 

"At you and everyone. We can do this."

It actually worked. Amy said to Jonah, "You're great at this. Did you ever do those sidewalk canvassing things, cause you are really in people's faces."

"No, but you got me all fired up," Jonah said. 

Corporate came, Dina came out and summoned Jonah and Amy. As they walked in, Amy took off her vest and her cute little gauzy shirt. She was just wearing a yellow tank top now. Jonah said, "You're showing off the tattoos?" 

"You saw that guy," Amy said. "He's exactly the type to be intimidated by an angry Latina with possible gang tattoos. I mean, they could be."

"They're flowers," Jonah said. "Are there gangs who have flowers tags?"

"Do you think that guy knows that?"

Jonah had to concede that point. The corporate guy who was named Jeff tried to get them to sign an apology and then they could all have their jobs back. Amy said, "No, no apologies. Glenn gets his job back, Cheyenne keeps her paid leave and you know what? You don't pay for overtime. That's against the law. That's definitely something I think corporate should apologize for or maybe fix."

"That's not happening," Jeff said. 

"Well, this apology isn't happening," Amy said. "I've got two baby daddies, I can live on my child support." She crossed her arms.

"She's lying," Dina said. "She does have two baby daddies but neither of them can afford to pay her child support. Well, maybe Alex."

"Adam got a brand new job," Amy said, leaning in to sneer. 

So Amy and Jonah went back out and told everyone to get ready for the next day of the strike. He offered to take her to the t-shirt shop to get t-shirts and stuff. Jonah's dad had relented and sent him some extra money this month so he could afford to pay for it. He even rented a rat. 

When the TV people came and the asshole anti-trans people tried to take over, Amy quickly countered and took back control. It was like when she was on stage, fierce and strong. He remembered he shouldn't call her fierce because it probably had racial overtones. But he could think it. When the rat turned out to be a teddy bear, Amy blanched and then said, "They want you to think Cloud 9 is a cuddly teddy bear but it's a rat underneath all that. Did I mention that they won't pay us overtime even when we work overtime?"

Jeff actually caved a little. A little. They didn't have to sign the letter of the apology. Glenn kept his job. Cheyenne got the one and only instance of paid maternity leave Cloud 9 would ever give. They did all have to sign a letter saying they wouldn't report anything about the overtime. "We'll work on it," Jeff said. 

Jonah rolled his eyes. 

Amy went home with Jonah to his apartment. She practically stripped him right after they got in the door, and they actually ended up having sex on the floor. "I'm so glad you don't have a rug," Amy said. "I've had rug burn from sex, it sucks."

"It really does," Jonah said, laying on his back. "I had a boyfriend in college and he had the worst rug."

"You had a boyfriend?" Amy turned to look at him. 

"Right, I should have mentioned that. I'm bisexual," Jonah said. "I've had way more women sexual partners than men, but I've dated both. I mean, had sex with men and women. But since I've been here in St. Louis, just you. Like you know."

"Wow, Alex said he totally got gay vibes off you," Amy said. "I hope you don't think Adam is hot, too."

"Nope, I've seen pictures," Jonah said. "You're not freaked out too much, are you? I understand, I should have told you sooner. I get it. I mean, it's a big thing."

"I'm not freaked out, chill," she said. She reached out and patted his arm. "I've never dated a woman, but I've had sex with, um, two. Two different ones. Not like, in a threesome? Just I had sex with one woman and then a few months later I had sex with another woman."

"Were either of them Dina?"

"Nope, ugh. I mean, we're friends, but she's really not my type. It's really sad, my taste in women is like, Blake Lively or those blond Victoria's Secret models. I'm just sad," Amy said. "Not literally sad, but I mean, I'm pathetic. I think I have better taste in guys."

"I don't think I can comment on that objectively," Jonah said. 

Dinner with Emma went awkwardly. She wasn't that taken with Jonah and Jonah was super not great with teenagers. He had nothing to say that wasn't just layered with awkwardness. Emma said, "So you work at Cloud 9, too?"

"Yep," Jonah said. 

When he met Adam, it was equally odd. Adam asked him if he ever dated women who were younger than him and Jonah really thought about it, he was contemplating his whole history and after a few way too long minutes, Jonah said, "Actually no. That was really illuminating. I always date women who are older than me, even when I was fourteen. My first girlfriend was fifteen. And my second, the next year, she was seventeen. I went to Senior Prom."

"Was she really short?" Adam just looked puzzled. 

"No, she was about average height, like, 5'5", but I was already my height, which is taller than that. She wore heels even, she was a little bit taller than me," Jonah said. "I bet that's not an experience you've had."

"No," Adam said. "My current girlfriend is 5'10", when she wears heels, she's about my height. Oh, wait, that's only eye level. You're right. I haven't had that experience."

"It's not bad," Jonah said.

But it was finally over. He had to sit through Amy figuring out her schedule for the next two weeks one night, it was a shit ton of work. She would call Adam, get answers, call Alex, get answers, rearrange things and call everyone back. Then she worked out the band; her sister did the booking. Then she rearranged things all over again. 

Jonah said, "Hey, um, that was great to listen to. Have you thought about moving? This place is, well, I think you could do better."

"Thanks," Amy said, glaring at him. "Yes, I guess, I've thought about moving. When Adam and I divorced, we were renting an apartment. I moved back in with my parents, and then I didn't really look for a new place until I was six months pregnant with Rafa, so I took the first thing I could afford. But the rent has barely gone up, it's a pretty great deal."

"Emma keeps complaining about how small her room is."

"She's thirteen, she complains about everything," Amy said. "It is a small room."

"Maybe," Jonah said. "I'm throwing this out there, but since you really like me, we could move in together. If you wanted. I want to. But if we're sharing rent, we could get an even nicer place."

"You want to move in together?"

"Not if it makes you want to break up with me," Jonah said. 

"That would be insane," Amy said. "I'm not insane."

"Let's table it, though, until you're not freaking out at the idea," Jonah said. 

He was definitely more anxious since everything was going well. Everyone knew they were dating, they even teased Amy and Jonah about it. Mostly Jonah. Mid November, he even relapsed and started gambling again. It was just a day. But he had definitely gone to the bad side. He called his father and confessed because it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

It was a horrible idea. Two days after Black Friday which sucked because of food poisoning, Jonah came home to his apartment and found his father sitting on the couch. Jonah jumped three feet. 

"Sorry for the scare," his dad said. "But it was incredibly easy to find your hide a key."

"No, it wasn't," Jonah said. 

"Well, it's the same hiding place we used at the summer place on Lake Michigan," his dad said.

"That's not easy," Jonah said. "Dad, why are you here?"

"You called me, you're in trouble," his dad said.

"I'm not in trouble, I fixed it, I won't do it again," Jonah said. "You didn't need to come out here. You're freaking me out a little."

"See? You're in trouble," his dad said. 

Naturally, at just that moment, Amy knocked and came in. She already had a key that he'd given her. "Jonah, get naked," she said. She saw his father and said, "Just kidding. Hi."

"Amy, this is my dad," Jonah said. "Dad, this is my, uh, she's my girlfriend. Amy Sosa."

Jonah's dad was always polite and always turned on the charm when a woman was pretty so he stood up and shook her hand. "I thought I might take you to dinner," his dad said. "Both of you."

"Sounds great," Amy said. 

"No, it doesn't," Jonah said. 

It was awkward, especially with his dad's grilling of Amy. "It's funny, Jonah never mentioned you have kids. He didn't mention you much."

"Because you do things like this, Dad," Jonah said. "I wasn't sure how serious everything was."

Amy smiled. "That makes sense to me."

"Okay," Jonah's dad said. 

Thankfully, Jonah's dad had a hotel room, so after dinner he went his way, and Jonah was able to take Amy back to his place. After they had sex, Amy said, "Why is your dad here?"

"He's here because I made the mistake of calling him," Jonah said. "I might have mentioned the whole business school debacle. He was pretty upset, because I'm, well, it wasn't the first time I've screwed up. And I had a kind of problem gambling in college, online poker, I sort of sold my brother's car. I gambled again and I told my father in the spirit of confession. Which means now he's shown up to see if I'm about to really disappoint everyone again. Which I'm not."

"You had a gambling problem?"

"Had, did have, it was a one day lapse, and in the end I gave back the money. I won't do it again," he said. "I definitely won't, I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize you, you and me." He said it fervently.

"You better," Amy said. "Anything else I should know?"

"No, just lots of panic disorder and not being able to commit to any job," Jonah said. "I think I'm doing great here in St. Louis. I'm committed. I'm working. I have a great girlfriend. Things are awesome."

"Okay," Amy said. She nodded. "Okay. We can move in together."

"Because I just admitted to being pretty fucked up?"

"You admitted it," Amy said. "I mean, I have a list of screw ups a mile long. Yours are more psychological and actually in need of medication, and yes, I've noticed the pills you take in the morning and night, but I dunno, whatever."

"That's so sweet," Jonah said. "That's why I love you."

He could feel Amy tense against his side. She said, "Thanks."

"That's, that is exactly how I thought it would that go," Jonah said. 

"We're pretty predictable," Amy said. She relaxed, though. 

Jonah's managed to convince his dad that he wasn't going crazy. Also that he should get his allowance back which was very helpful. 

Thanks to his increased allowance, they were able to get a pretty nice place. 

Jonah approached Amy with a little trepidation. He couldn't help himself, a little trepidation manifested as an overly cheery. "Hi hi hi. How's it going?"

"What?" Amy glared at him. He should have done this sometime other than Tuesday night at three a.m. 

"I wrote a little blurb for my mom's new year's family newsletter. I just wanted to run it by you," Jonah said. 

"Why are you acting like you're about to break up with me?" She actually looked a little panicked. 

"No, no, no. No. It's just the blurb. It's stupid, I don't think it's well-written," Jonah said. He kissed her and she patted his hair. 

"You wrote it," Amy said. "Let me see it." She looked at his laptop screen. She read out loud. "Jonah has been working for Cloud 9 in St. Louis for nearly a year - yeah, nine months is nearly a year, it's more than half so sure -- and recently moved in with his girlfriend, Amy who is a supervisor at Cloud 9, as well. That is a run on sentence. I mean, you can edit it down. Sentence two: Amy is a great mother to two kids so all three of them are stuck with Jonah at breakfast, but none of them has said shut up and eat your muffin yet. Huh. I guess that's a family joke. Right?"

"Yeah, it's a funny story --"

"It's three a.m. Send the fixed one to your mom. How many people are on her Christmas card list? Sorry, new year's card list," Amy said. She passed the laptop back to Jonah. 

"I don't know, about a hundred, I think," Jonah said. He was just relieved it was all over. He hit send. "This is probably my best year since I graduated college and honestly, after I finished my internship that summer, I mostly just sat around."

"You're working at Cloud 9," Amy said. "That's your best year."

"You missed the part with the great girlfriend," Jonah said. He closed the laptop and put it on the bedside table. 

Amy kissed him suddenly. When he opened his eyes, she had a big smile on her face. He said, "You like that, huh?"

"I like you," she said. "I love you."

"Wow. My Hannukkah gift," Jonah said. "Not that I didn't love the journal. I really loved the journal. But also, I appreciate you saying it."

Amy rolled her eyes. "I appreciate you, too."


End file.
